Exhibit No. 31.1

# CERTIFICATION

I, Roy Thomas, certify that:

|1. | I
have reviewed this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2003 of Texas Pacific Land Trust;
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|2. | Based
on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the
statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period
covered by this report;
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|3. | Based
on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the
financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;
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|4. | The
registrants other certifying officer(s) and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as
defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the registrant
and have:
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| | a) | Designed
such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure
that material information relating to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those
entities, particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared;
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| | b) | Evaluated
the effectiveness of the registrants disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the
effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and
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| | c) | Disclosed in this report any change in the registrants internal control over
financial reporting that occurred during the registrants most recent fiscal quarter (the registrants fourth fiscal quarter in the case of
an annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrants internal control over financial
reporting; and
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|5. | The registrants other certifying officer(s) and I have disclosed, based on
 our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the registrants auditors and the audit committee of the registrants
 board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):
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| | a) | All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation
of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely
to adversely affect the registrants ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and
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| | b) | Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees
 who have a significant role in the registrants internal control over financial reporting.
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|Date:  November 14, 2003 | By:/s/ Roy Thomas
      Roy Thomas, General Agent
      and Chief Executive Officer
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